One of the key commitments of the Community College Research Initiatives (CCRI's) STEM Transfer Partnership (STP) program is to transform STEM transfer pathways and improve outcomes for students from low-income backgrounds using student input. Student input is an essential element in institutional transformation for student success but the process…

Food insecurity is widespread among college students in the United States. CalFresh food benefits, known federally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, can help students in California pay for food, but may not reach all eligible students. To better measure student participation in CalFresh, the California Policy Lab (CPL)…

Food insecurity is widespread among college students in the United States. CalFresh food benefits, known federally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, can help students in California pay for food, but may not reach all eligible students. To better measure student participation in CalFresh, the California Policy Lab (CPL)…

Female students, Latinx students, first-generation students, and transfer students often feel uncomfortable in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) environments. However, some departments have been making progress in changing that. Guided by double consciousness and person-environment fit theory, we investigated the lived…

Background: People seek complementary health approaches (CHAs) for a variety of health reasons, and high rates of CHA use among U.S. college students have been reported. Purpose: Based on a 2012 study, researchers assessed trends in college CHA use by conducting an updated systematic review of studies published between June 2011-December 2022.…

This research examines the relationship between financial aid, price, and the enrollment decisions of first-generation college students. Using human capital and socio-cultural theories in conjunction with previous research, the study establishes a conceptual framework to assess how personal, academic, and college variables associate with a…

Given pandemic restrictions on learning and research, autoethnography has recently garnered renewed attention as a potential alternative. Drawing on our experiences as instructor and student, we make the case that autoethnography is not only relevant to pandemic-era teaching but could also offer an effective pedagogical tool to critically engage…

Informed by interviews with administrators, faculty, and students at the University of North Texas (UNT) this case study explores how a public four-year institution and designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), sets a powerful example for leveraging data to improve student outcomes for all. This research shares insights from UNT's efforts to…

Community colleges are increasingly recognized as providing an accessible and affordable pathway to STEM occupations, particularly for underrepresented racial and ethnic, first-generation, and low-income students. There are several institutional and academic factors that influence transfer outcomes. But one of the most central factors that can…

Choosing a field of study (study major) is challenging for prospective students. However, little research has examined factors measured prior to enrollment to predict motivation and well-being in a specific study major. Based on literature on affective forecasting and person-environment fit, prospective students' well-being forecast could be such…

Undeclared students choose their major while enrolled in college, but major choice can have long-term implications on social mobility, career path, and lifetime earnings. Identity can play a role in the major selected by an undeclared student. This research analyzed the relationship between identity and major selection for undecided students to…

Students often see college courses as the presentation of disconnected facts, especially in the life sciences. Student-created Structure Mechanism/Relationship Function (SMRF) models were analyzed to understand students' abilities to make connections between genotype, phenotype, and evolution. Students were divided into two sections; one section…

Although philosophers have long claimed that reading fiction has the potential to improve imaginative capacities, empirical evidence on this topic is limited. We report an experiment that aims to conceptually replicate and extend previous work by Djikic and colleagues by testing whether reading literary fiction reduces the need for closure, and by…

While the topic of attracting and maintaining inbound international students has received much scholarly attention in higher education, attracting female international students has rarely been discussed. This study addresses the issue of attracting degree-seeking female international students. Based on the notion of situational factors and total…

Ultra-processed food consumption is a globally increasing trend (Pagliai et al., 2021) correlated with increased obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and all-cause mortality (Elizabeth et al., 2020). American college students consume twice as many calories from ultra-processed food, compared to minimally processed food (Juul et al., 2022),…